The Critical Question For A Potential GPS Tracking Company

What should I ask my supplier before purchasing a GPS Tracker?

One of the biggest question your company should ask, though not initially think of, is “How much downtime should I expect?” If the answer is anything but “No downtime,” you need to rethink future business with that company. Downtime is that period of time when the software is either unavailable or is not performing at its highest capacity. Downtime could be when the system needs to be updated, routine maintenance, or just some unplanned outage.

Whatever the reason for the downtime, for a business that depending on the software for extremely important business transactions, downtime can be very detrimental. What use is a high tech GPS management system if tracking your fleet cannot happen 24/7? If you are not able to use the GPS tracker 100% of the time, what could potentially be lost?

Let’s say that you have a shipment that a customer has paid extra to have delivered by a certain time. Your driver with the shipment encounters an unexpected traffic jam from an accident and due to the severity, news reports are predicting the congestion to be cleared in 2 hours. Right when your dispatcher is about to check on alternative routes for your driver in order to make the shipment within the time frame, your fleet management company starts performing a software update, and boom, the dispatcher no longer sees the map with your driver’s location and no longer sees the map which would locate another route. This means that not only will your customer not have their shipment on time, but your company will also need to reimburse the extra cost they paid for to get the shipment there by a certain time, and you have a dissatisfied customer on your hands.

Our fleet management system has the capabilities in place that allow us to do our work on the software behind the scenes so that even when we are updating, you will never know. We make sure that the needs of your company are our top priority. We never want to put you or your fleet in an uncomfortable situation that could cause your company to lose money, or even worse, your reputation.

When you are in the market for a live GPS tracking system, we suggest that you not only talk in detail with the company, but you do your research. Talk to customers already using the software to see what their experience is with the GPS tracker. The last thing your company needs is to sign a contract with a company that meets every one of your needs, but yet, lack the ability to update their software without your taking a beating. No matter how many bells and whistles the company may have, if performance day-in-day-out without the fear of a pivotal system can’t be counted on, you need to keep looking.